DESCRIPTION (Applicant's Abstract) This Training Program, Mechanisms of Hypertension and Cardiovascular Diseases, Suzanne Oparil, M.D., Program Director, offers postdoctoral training in fundamental aspects of the pathophysiology of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. The Program has recently been enriched to include new training opportunities in cell signaling, gene transfer/gene therapy and vascular biology, as well as counseling re-career opportunities in the biotechnology/pharmaceutical I industry. The Program has a multidisciplinary faculty with expertise in cell and molecular biology, physiology, and clinical research. Training opportunities are available in: free radicals, oxidative injury and antioxidants in cardiopulmonary diseases; molecular genetics of hypertension; gene therapy; cell signaling, including mechanosensing and mechanosignal transduction; molecular and cellular mechanisms of angiogenesis and the vascular response to injury; vasoactive peptides in systemic and pulmonary hypertension; CNS regulation of blood pressure; molecular pathogenesis of cardiac hypertrophy, cardiac failure, arrhythmia and sudden death; and pathophysiology and treatment of clinical hypertension. Each trainee is given in-depth experience in one area of research and will be exposed to other areas through seminars, conferences and course work. Trainees will have a concentrated 2-3 year experience in laboratory research under the direction of one or more members of the training faculty. Both M.D. and Ph.D. trainees will spend the majority of their time in investigation, in taking relevant courses and in attending scientific meetings. The goal of the Training Program is to prepare postdoctoral trainees for careers in both fundamental and clinical research in cardiovascular diseases. The educational experiences available to our trainees are sufficient to equip graduates of the Program with the appropriate technical skills and theoretical background to make them competitive for faculty positions in prestigious academic institutions throughout the country or in the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry. In the past 10 years, 27 M.D. and Ph.D. scientists have been or are being trained in this program. Of those no longer in training, 77 percent currently occupy academic positions; 6 percent occupy research positions in industry; 48 percent have past, current or pending NIH or Veterans Administration research support;-and 47 percent have research support from other sources.